Thursday, September 30, 2010

In August this year I lost my best friend. I'd known her all her life but lost contact for about 7 years after my mum died.

My best friend, my Sheltie, Kirstie. She was 13 years old and was in kidney failure. I won't go into details about how she got so sick, but needless to say it was when she was not with our family anymore.

She was one of 2 surviving puppies from the last litter my mother's kennel ever produced. I ran into an old friend when I dropped by a dog show this year, before we put Kirstie down. She said it would be the hardest loss. Losing the pup from my Mum's kennel. I thought, knowing how ill she was that I would be fine with it. But the circumstances leading to her death and knowing that never again will I have a dog with Mum's kennel name and raised by her and I together has been very hard.

Although we're looking at getting another dog I'm not so sure at this point it will be another Sheltie. Shelties have ruled my dog world for so long, even though I'm not "into" the dog stuff anymore that a change might be good.

But there is still that pull.....the cute faces, the long noses.... the fluffy coats, the smarts, the sense of humour, the personalities that just won't quit. All these things make it hard not to want another Sheltie again. So I have been looking at breeders within my area for a Sheltie, just looking so far.

I'm so unfamiliar with breeders in Ontario now though that it's making it hard for me to find a breeder I know and trust. Luckily there are a few names I recognize so if we do decide on a Sheltie and one of the breeders I do know doesn't have puppies (or an older dog needing a new home) they'll hopefully point me in the right direction.